Animals and particularly hogs are contained in pens during various stages of their growth and life. The present invention is particularly concerned with the gestation stalls where a single sow is contained within an individual stall or pen during this particular stage before being moved to a furrowing crate. Such stall generally comprises a row of pen walls which divide each pen from the next with front and rear pen walls which divide the stalls from suitable alleyways for accessing the sows.
It is conventional that feed is supplied to the animal in the stall by a drop tube which extends from the supply above the pens to deposition into the pen at a required location at or adjacent the pen floor. In many cases the feed is deposited directly onto the floor. In other cases the feed is deposited at or into a channel in the floor or a trough at the floor which also contains water.
Other pens use a similar drop tube system for transporting the feed into the pen for taking by the animals.
It is one object of the invention to provide an improved pen for an animal where the feeding system allows accurate location of the feed relative to the pen wall.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus comprising:
a pen for containing one or more animals including a pen wall for standing on a floor;
a feeding assembly for supplying feed to the pen having:
a drop tube for transporting feed from a raised supply system to a position at or adjacent the floor;
a spout at the bottom of the drop tube for discharging the feed in a direction to one side of the drop tube depending upon an angular orientation of the drop tube about a vertical axis of the drop tube;
a clamp for attaching the drop tube to the wall of the pen to hold the drop tube at a predetermined height and at a predetermined angular orientation;
and co-operating indexing adjustment components mounted on the clamp and the tube which can be adjusted to provide a plurality of indexed angular orientations of the tube about the axis for locating the direction of discharge of the spout at specific indexed locations.
The term xe2x80x9cpenxe2x80x9d as used herein is intended to include both pens for multiple animals and individual animals, sometimes called a xe2x80x9cstallxe2x80x9d.
Preferably the tube is located outside the pen wall and the spout projects through the pen wall.
Preferably the clamp comprises a strap on the pen wall and a clamping band wrapped around the tube.
Preferably the co-operating components comprise a projection on the tube and a plurality of receptacles on the band, although other indexing components which can interconnect and a plurality of separate fixed locations can also be used.
In this specific arrangement, the receptacles may comprise indentations in a top edge of the band.
In this specific arrangement, the projection may comprise a stud welded onto one face of the tube.
Preferably the spout comprises a portion of tube attached to the drop tube by an elbow.